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As Perry Looms, Bachmann Presses Faith In GOP Race

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. speaks during the Iowa GOP/Fox News Debate on August 11, 2011 at the CY Stephens Auditorium in Ames, Iowa. This is the first Republican presidential debate in the state ahead of Saturday's all important Iowa Straw Poll.

(credit: Charlie Neibergall-Pool/Getty Images)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The surest place to find Michele Bachmann on Sundays this summer is at a worship service somewhere in Iowa, offering the testimony of a Republican presidential candidate who has long tied her political beliefs to her faith.

While she isn’t the only conservative Christian in the field, Bachmann has vaulted into the top-tier of candidates seeking the GOP nomination in no small part by tapping the enthusiastic support of evangelicals and social conservatives in the early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina.

But a new spiritual primary looms. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is entering the race and, like Bachmann, he is a devout Christian whose faith defines his politics. Perry’s well-publicized appearance at a Houston prayer rally attended by 30,000 people last weekend won strong reviews, and there are already signs that Bachmann is starting to take steps to protect her early hold on the party’s base of faith-driven voters.

“For that group of voters, they will be battling it out,” said David Roederer, who held top Iowa posts in John McCain’s 2008 campaign and George W. Bush’s 2000 bid.

Bachmann’s campaign won’t discuss how Perry’s entry into the race affects their strategy. But on the eve of the Texas prayer rally, her team sent reporters a roster of supporters containing more than 100 pastors and spiritual leaders in Iowa.

She has been highlighting her faith-based backers more heavily and swapped out a planned trip to New Hampshire for one to South Carolina, a state where she and Perry would likely compete directly for votes among social conservatives.

Perry makes his debut trip to Iowa on Sunday for an event in Bachmann’s birthplace of Waterloo; Bachmann said Thursday she would appear at the same party fundraiser that night.

Along with Perry, Bachmann is competing with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty for votes among faith-driven voters. The race is the first in Bachmann’s political career in which she’s been forced to complete for such support; her Minnesota campaigns regularly mixed faith and policy, and social conservatives were always a crucial part of her base.

“We are in the last days,” Bachmann prayed from a Minnesota stage in 2006, the year she was first elected to Congress. She asked God during that appearance to help foster the success of You Can Run But You Can’t Hide, a Minnesota ministry led by Bradlee Dean, a pastor who has been repudiated even by Republicans for calling gays “predators,” among other things.

In that appearance, Bachmann praised the ministry’s outreach to public schools and its attempt to explode notions about the separation of church and state, which she called “a myth.”

This summer, while aggressively chasing support from Iowa voters who put a premium on social issues such as fighting abortion and gay marriage, Bachmann has also tried to guard against being cast as someone with limited appeal. In Council Bluffs this week, she portrayed herself as a candidate who can stitch varied GOP constituencies — not just those driven by faith — into a winning coalition.

“It is a movement that is being heard all across the country. It is made up of fiscal conservatives, and I’m one of those. It’s made up of peace-through-strength, national-security conservatives. I’m one of those,” she said. “It’s made up of social conservatives. I’m one of those. And it is made up of the glorious tea party movement, and I’m one of those.”

Raised in the Lutheran church, Bachmann has said she was born again at age 16 and has rarely made a major decision since without direction from God. She and her husband, Marcus, she said, realized they would marry after God gave them simultaneous visions. She would go on to feel God’s hand in decisions to attend law school, have children and take in foster children, seek political office and, ultimately, run for president.

For many years, the Bachmanns attended a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod church near their home in Stillwater, Minn. The conservative denomination adheres to a strict doctrine that some have called anti-Catholic — Bachmann has disavowed those views — and excludes women from church leadership roles.

The family formally left the church around the time Bachmann launched her presidential campaign and now attends an evangelical mega-church in suburban St. Paul. But even some Bachmann supporters wonder if the views held by some in similar evangelical congregations might open the door for Perry to indirectly siphon away some of her backers.

“I don’t know a lot about Rick Perry,” said Bachmann supporter Julia Anderson, the wife of an evangelical pastor and a stay-at-home mom in Hubbard, Iowa. “I would say the one thing that, sadly, is going to maybe be a test for her is the fact that he’s a man and she’s a woman. I’ve had people say, `What are you doing supporting a woman candidate? That’s upsetting the order of the home.”‘

Bachmann supporter Danny Carroll, a former Iowa legislator active in social conservative circles, said Perry’s arrival shouldn’t mean Bachmann needs to do more to stress her own faith. He cautions that in doing so, candidates can go too far.

“The more you have to tout and promote your Christian beliefs, in some respects, the more suspect it becomes,” Carroll said.

Roederer, the former Bush and McCain adviser, said Bachmann seems to hold the early advantage over Perry because she’s invested more time forging personal bonds in Iowa. But the Rev. Marcus Moffitt of the Calvary Baptist Church in northwestern Iowa, and among those on Bachmann’s list of supportive pastors, said he’s still open to other candidates — including Perry.

“I appreciate a number of things that Perry has done as Texas governor related to social issues and textbooks and different things like that,” Moffitt said. A backer of caucus winner Mike Huckabee in 2008, Moffitt said he’d ultimately vote for the candidate who is “most willing to pursue their convictions regardless of how the political winds blow.”

“Primarily,” he said, “I want to see strength of leadership on moral issues.”

Really, I’m a Christian, and I am nothing but “thankful” that God sent his only son to save us. Absolutely NO “whining” here, just a lot of thanks.

As for the candidates, Yes, I’ll give a Christian my vote before I vote for a non-Christian any day, Republican or Democrat. Hey as a U.S. citizen, I’m free to do just that. If you don’t like it . . . you may “whine” about it all you want. It will not bother me one bit.

That’s the problem pal…Christians are close minded know it alls……..OK Christian ..Explain the Crusades, the Inquisitions, and the Catholic church’s flat earth theory……………….the Catholic church has been one of the most murderous , richest organizations in the history of the world…………The chruch has perverted the teaching of the prophet Jesus…… The Bible is a violent book…Read Deuteronomy 13 and do what it says…KILL KILL KILL

Yes the world is not perfect, nor is any one person, Christian or not. I’ll give you no argument there.
However, in my travels, the Christians I’ve met neither claim they are perfect or that they “know all there is to know.” The only “know it all” is God. (That doesn’t mean Christians don’t have an opinion, or that they are not passionate about their opinion. I’ve also found they advocate for Democrats, Republicans, and others.)

Will people twist the teaching of the Bible . . . Yes the Crusades, Inquisitions, and you my friend are excellent examples of that. Just because a person claims to be something doesn’t mean they truly are. As for the Catholics in the middle ages. I believe Martin Luther stepped up to the plate on that one.

Getting back on point . . . it is the duty of every voting U.S. citizen to listen carefully to what the candidates say, and look at their past performances before casting a vote. For me, the candidate’s faith and how they live their faith will factor in when I chose who to vote for. And I make no apologies for that.

I like your thinking. Too bad that the Christianity has been further perverted by people like MB who scream, intimidate, condemn and lie and base their actions on THEIR (own) “Christian” beliefs. For those of you who support her just because she wears the scarlet letters of GOP, NEVER once has she uttered a constructive, positive – to say the least, fair, solution to ANY problem. I think someone needs to remind “Christians” that Christ – not only was Jewish – practiced the Jewish religion, was also a pacifist, fed the poor, and offered help to the sick without payment.

In your Christian religious delusion, you pray to a corpse nailed to two boards and use the symbol of a crucifix which was a brutal torture device of a primitive man. You then take it one step further in your delusion and in an almost satanic ritual, you eat his body (cannibalism) and then drink his blood (vampirism). Yet here we are with Christian’s brainwashed into believing they have the “True Religion”

WCCO acts like a PIO (Public Information Officer) for Bachmann. Constant publicity, does not question her qualifications, does not ask her about her inane comments, particularly history, and when they do find something bad it is buried in the news.
WCCO just LOVES the conservatives because they just LOVE low tax for the rich. Their status as a news source has gone downhill, and you notice how their good people have retired or left? Wonder why.

Mark, wait till a Muslim cadidate brings his or her faith into making laws, just like her. Same thing. Not germain in the secular arena of ideas, you know, the one that we share. She is not a woman of persuasion, rather she is a theocrat who wants control of how people live, many of whom would become criminal. What if she was into Witchcraft and wanted to change laws to that point of view? Do you understand why her “taith” is secondary yet? To me, she’s no better than a Pharisee.

Thanks Mark. You imply that she’s picked on because she’s supposedly Christian, but it’s because she picks on others and wants to procelytise the government that she receives such scrutiny. Again, my point is that in the free marketplace of ideas, she stomps on mine and my life while pushing hers, publicly praying, etc. like a Pharisee. If she wants to take America back (whatever that means) can we tie stones to her legs and throw her in a lake to see if she floats? Shall we go back to those Puritanical values?

Well, I didn’t miss it, Mr. Waste. You are pointing out that only Christians are criticized by the media because all other religions are sacrosanct because of their minority “protection” status and might sue the media and because minority religions make a lot of noise about discrimination and bigotry, so no one wants to get into that fight. Thus, anyone who professed to want to introduce perhaps the Mormon faith, would not be criticized by the media? Am I right?

Good job Citizen, you got that clown to shut up and bury his head back in the sand. Great post, keep up the good work!……and James2, your use of $3.00 words must have really upset him, maybe he’s looking them up right now to discover the meaning, which is very typical of someone who has a lack of synapse between the neurotransmitters and the neuroreceptors.

Why are the moral issues always related to what one is doing in the bedroom, instead of the wars we are fighting, the people we are oppressing, the destruction we are causing to our planet and the social injustice all around us……..For 1400 years the church taught us that the Bible said that he world was flat………Maybe the church’s view of our modern world is just plain wrong !

I dare ANYONE to read this page on The Thinking Atheist site and then honestly see why people are, more and more, looking at Christianity as totally insane. Plus why yet another reason we look at religious extremists as even more insane.

Well… there are Christians and then there are faux-christians. The noisy mean ones are the faux-christians. Faux-Christians have been with us from the beginnings of Christianity, and came to this country as Puritans. I have heard Faux-Christians claim Moses was a Christian, I’ve heard them say dinosaurs lived with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and also claim Adam and Eve were Christians. Clearly Christ’s message has become delegated to the least of their understanding. It’s a sad state of affairs when politicians bring their faux-religion to the table.

If you follow the Christian faith, you are following illusions, myths and legends with no proof or basis in reality. How can people honestly take you serious? You pray to a torture device or in some churches have the corpse of your leader hanging from the torture device. It’s SICK. How can we take Christian’s seriously when their resource (Bible) has been poorly revised, translated throughout hundreds of years many times over? Nobody in their RIGHT MIND of SANITY can take ALL the religious Bible laws seriously. THEY JUST DON’T FIT IN MODERN SOCIETY. Yet here we are with delusional Christian still trying to wiggle their way into government and push outdated religious laws. (GOP-Republicans who cater to the delusional and wealthy)

Well there are two different type of Christians! You have the liberal types and you have the hardcore types. Liberal types tend to only go to church twice a year for Easter and Christman or maybe not at all. They believe you don’t need church to believe in what ever they choose to believe. And they adapt to change in society well and are not afraid to embrace it. They tend to use commons sense when making decisions. They are not afraid to think for themselves.

Where as the hardcore Christians feel the need to go to church 7 days a week, go to confession every chance they get, which makes you wonder what could they possibly do that is so wrong to go that many times. They are weak minded, they are afraid to think for themselves, even though they try to tell you other wise. They will tell you they are never told who to vote for…yeah right! And they believe they are never wrong . And like being led around like a little lost puppy. And they refuse to accept change in society and adapt. They want everybody else to come down to their level.

What is even funnier is that the Jesus Character was actually taken from a previous story of the Greeks, retooled and put into the Bible. Historians have discovered this but it would totally be the shocking realization that Christian’s are just delusional. When people fully discover this for themselves, it’s the beginning of the deprogramming. The glorious rude awakening of reality.

Rick Perry was a Democrat for 25 years before he flip-flopped to be a RepubliCON so he could get elected governor. The very definition of hypocrite. Here is a quote from the Dismal Political Economist’s July blog:

Rick Perry’s Texas Economic Miracle Was Built On Debt, Debt and More Debt
He Just Doesn’t Want Anyone to Know About It

The current governor of Texas and potential Presidential candidate Rick Perry is fond of talking about how well the economy of Texas has done under his low tax policy. He is also fond of leaving out one important point. Texas has borrowed heavily while Mr. Perry has been Governor.

For all the controversy over the national debt ceiling, here’s a surprise: Since 2001, the debt load in conservative Texas has grown faster than the federal debt.

Texas has been borrowing more than most other states, too. And local entities, from cities to school districts to transit authorities, have been piling up even more debt. . .

“We’re not a pay-as-you-go state and we’re not averse to debt, as some people believe,” said Eva DeLuna Castro, a senior budget analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. “Maybe you’re not paying for it now, but your children or grandchildren will.”

And what about Mr. Perry’s much celebrated 2011 budget battle where he covered a shortfall without raising taxes?

The borrowing isn’t slowing. New issues expected for 2011 include $2 billion for transportation, $434 million for water projects and $235 million for cancer research. All those are paid from the state’s general fund

So if Republican voters expect Mr. Perry to be a success in a White House run, they can also expect him to be a spend and borrower President, as long as the spending isnt’t on things like education and health care. A spend-and-borrow President much like, you know, that other Texas Governor who was recently ensconced in the White House.

From 2001 when Mr. Perry took office local debt has grown by almost $100 billion. Another way of saying that is that since Mr. Perry took office he has run up deficits at the local level of almost $100 billion, but then Mr. Perry would not like it to be said that way, would he? “

Stray, I thought we had already discussed the attributes of stray cats to spread disease, filth, and infect the resident cats on my farm. Also, the stray cats do not hunt and lie around all day fighting with my resident cats who mouse and earn their keep. Eventually, they move on because they are never welcome where they stop and spread the mange…
Facts are the enemy of the GOP delusions….

I no longer Pray as Marcus told me I cannot until I totally change my ways which I am not inclined to do
He would chant and chant and then play a video of Michelle praying, then chanting, then annointing herself with the (un)Holy water from a Johnny Walker bottle as she slugged down some little white pills. I dunno – the bill came and it was $1145.00 but cost me nothing as it was going to the gubbermint for payment.
Thanks everyone for paying it but it was a waste of your money

I no longer Pray as Marcus told me I cannot until I totally change my ways which I am not inclined to do
He would chant and chant and then play a video of Michelle praying, then chanting, then annointing herself with the (un)Holy water from a Johnny Walker bottle as she slugged down some little white pills. I dunno – the bill came and it was $1145.00 but cost me nothing as it was going to the gubbermint for payment.
Thanks everyone for paying it but it was a waste of your money

When did we forget “Seperation of Church and State”? This was put into place by individuals much more intelligebt than any who are in government now (Either party). It was put into place because of the Catholic church in Rome, but primarily the Church of England, would demand a certain amount of governance over our newly formed nation. This shut the door to the churches becoming too powerful in deciding the rule of law, as well as intrusion in individuals daily lives on religious grounds.

I am a spiritualist/christian. I do not agree with most of the fundamentalist extreme evangelicals who post how christian they are, and how others are sooooo wrong because their beliefs and lifestyles are somehow different than their own. I feel they are as hate filled as other radical members of other religions.

As Gahndi once said:

“I love your Christ, but I do not love your Christians. For they are so unlike your Christ.”

Just curious, where in the U.S. Constitution does it say we needed to “separate church and state”?
I’ve heard this phrase many times, but I’ve never seen it written down anywhere. There have been court rulings that have required certain actions to separate the two. But is it in the U.S. Constitution?

If you have school age children, ask them if they have ever had the class stand up for the pledge of allegiance or sing my country tis of thee……I bet they haven’t and more than likely would look at you and say ” what are you talking about?”….and no, it’s not in the Constitution, it’s in the fishing regulations book.

I remember here in MN having to do the pledge of allegiance… now I’m disgusted how we as kids were brainwashed with that also. It’s SERIOUSLY SICK mind control rubbish.

The more indoctrinations I come to realize that I was put through as a kid, the more angry I get at my parents and society back then. Thank goodness I can now do my own critical thinking and research to form my own belief systems… without EVER imposing them onto anyone else, let alone a child.

@MR,
It is not word for word, but it is the basis of our first amendment rights in the Constitution.

It is attributed to Thomas Jefferson, in an written argumenton the writings of Roger Williams, the founder of the first Bbtist church in America: “(A) hedge or wall of seperation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.” To which Jefferson responded “I contemplate with soverign reverance that the act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law ‘respecting the establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’, thus building a wall of seperation of church and state”

The first amendment reads, as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

This is the constitution, not a go fishing handbook. These are our rights, and should not be diminished in any way, shape or form!

The First Amendment reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….”, while Article VI specifies that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Also, the phrase “separation of church and state” in this context is generally traced to an 1 January 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptist Association, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Echoing the language of the founder of the first Baptist church in America, Roger Williams—who had written in 1644 of “[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world”— Jefferson wrote, “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State”.

I didn’t see anything in Citizens post that prevents any candidate (Democrat, Republican, or whatever) from advocating their faith.
If a candidate has a strong faith (not only Christian) and would like to express that, they are free to do so. We as voters then have more information on that candidate. Do we agree with their faith, do they walk the talk, will this help them solve all of the problems we face today? Good stuff to know. If you don’t agree with that candidate’s faith, you are free to vote for someone else.

What if we are simply concerned about the candidate’s state of mental health? What if we regard the claims of being privy to supernatural phenomenon as possible schizophrenia? What if we are concerned that when this nation faces a truly monumental crisis such a candidate will resort to supernatural supplications to unseen entities instead of using rational, critical thinking skills? So in response to your comment I would just like to say that Bachmann’s religious pronouncements are indeed relevant here-in fact I would go so far as to point out that if they were NOT relevant, then Bachmann herself would keep her religious notions to herself instead of using them as a platform to elicit more votes. Peace.

@markH … man you PEGGED IT !!! wow… a logical response based on real life reason. ASTONISHING

You had a post a few weeks back about how the Christian religion tells people they are flawed or a sinner but then turns around and says it has the “cure”. I’d LOVE IT if you posted that again… it was seriously spot on and true.

What is is with WCCO’s constant love fest with Michelle Bachmann? Enough’s enough already! We get your point, you’re a left wing liberal media outlet and you want to pick on the strongest candidate on the right. Got it. Now do your job and report objectively on the things that matter, not what Bachmann says in her prayers. This is annoying folks.

It’s kind of like reporting sports. The hometeam always gets the most press. That is why Bachmann and Pawlenty are getting all this wonderful free publicity. If they weren’t from here, there would be much less written about them.

I no longer Pray as Marcus told me I cannot until I totally change my ways which I am not inclined to do
He would chant and chant and then play a video of Michelle praying, then chanting, then annointing herself with the (un)Holy water from a Johnny Walker bottle as she slugged down some little white pills. I dunno – the bill came and it was $1145.00 but cost me nothing as it was going to the gubbermint for payment.
Thanks everyone for paying it but it was a waste of your money

So what Bachmann is really saying is that she wants respect for having faith (i.e. belief in ideas for which there is little or no evidence) and expects the electorate to actually be receptive to this? I am just amazed at how far we have come in our politics-where candidates think it is not only acceptable but NECESSARY to inform the voters that they believe in supernatural ideas, and that they have an unseen friend in another realm with whom they can communicate and consult on various decisions they make. Is there any other way to see this? Personally, if Bachmann told us she believes in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny I wouldn’t be any less concerned about her mental state than I am now. Peace.

It’s the ultimate SCAPE GOAT for making poor choices or those choices that other people (in their right minds) would frown upon. It’s outside blame or as Sigmund Freud called it, Psychological Projection. The Christians are pretty AWESOME at doing a lot of Psychological Projection and not facing reality or modern day reason. Anyone with a background in Psychology can clearly see all the simple control factors and mind manipulations that the bible uses over it’s followers. The priests and religious leaders also know these tricks and just how to use them.

I dare any Christian to read a few pages on “The Thinking Atheist” web site about the study and total misconception of the imaginary bible stories and then think for themselves if they’ve just perhaps fallen for one the best CONS of all humanity. It’s a seriously rude awakening into reality. You’ll be totally sickened with how you’ve been duped and indoctrinated into believing total rubbish cleverly disguised as righteousness.

haha. is it lonley up there on your pedestal? i’m glad you think that your going to heavan. but don’t count your eggs before they hatch. god might just have a surprise for you. “I’m sorry sir but your name isn’t on the list here.” “well can you check it again?” (mark shuffles nervously) “yeah, i’m not finding it.” “did you also put my middle name in there?” (peter types on the computer) “yep, it’s still not there.” (mark starts sweating) “well has the book been updated?” (peter rolls his eyes) “sir it’s updated daily.” (marks lips start to quiver) but i made my reservation years ago, i hated all the bad people, i thought i was better than them, i voted for the republicans because they were christians…..i…i..i… just don’t understand what happened.” (mark starts to sob and peter interjects) “sir that isn’t gonna help……..ahhhhhh sir would you please……ok that’s about …….please sir……(mark continues) (peter motions with his hand for assistance from the bouncers) and mark is carried away kicking and screaming.

you pretend to know mark what god is going to do with you and others? if i was god your arrogance alone would be cause enough to strike you down. you need some humble pie man and you need it quick.

that is the great thing about this country. the christians have paved the way to inject their religion into our laws, currency, schools etc.. now when the muslims come to do it suddenly it’s not ok. phuckin’ hypocrates. didn’t god tell you not to cast your pearls to swine. stop forcing your religion down our throats. have any of you ever read utopian fiction? i mean what are you trying to create here, a brave new world with baby jesus as the centerpiece. i think that we have established that they don’t work so just frickin let it go!!!!!!!